{"id":1549,"date":"2022-08-27T19:57:55","date_gmt":"2022-08-27T19:57:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ghadaamer.com\/?p=1549"},"modified":"2022-08-27T19:57:56","modified_gmt":"2022-08-27T19:57:56","slug":"ghada-amers-paravent-girls","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ghadaamer.com\/sculpture\/ghada-amers-paravent-girls\/","title":{"rendered":"Ghada Amer\u2019s Paravent Girls"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
Larger than life, the women on Ghada Amer\u2019s paravents emerge from bronze panels in raised lines that give a tactile element to each piece. On one side of a paravent, a woman sculpted out of bronze ridges has hair cascading around her shoulders, as if to create a peekaboo partition between her skin and the viewer\u2019s sight line. Shrugging her shoulder lightly, she plays with her strap as she looks over her shoulder, eyes downcast, a slight smile hovering on her lips, seemingly prepared to disrobe. On the other side of the paravent, two women seem to have just brushed their tresses to the side as they move closer together, one reaching out a hand to help the other shed her underthings.\u00a0
Watching women dress or undress in art is a theme as old as time, from the biblical Susanna and the Elders in Renaissance paintings, to Ingres\u2019 odalisques or Bonnard\u2019s women in bathtubs. <\/em>However, watching these scenes of undress unfold on giant paravents \u2013 objects intended to create privacy or, depending on the context, a sense of sensuous mystery, as a woman slips into something more comfortable<\/em> \u2013 is another thing altogether. After all, if we can clearly see the women undressing, isn\u2019t this visibility ruining the mystery, by showing openly what usually happens behind the partition right there, on the screen?<\/p>\n\n\n\n